Kinzinger Warns Trump Has “Suffocated” GOP’s Soul in Fiery DNC Speech

Former Representative Adam Kinzinger ripped into Donald Trump at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night.

The Republican and conservative called out the former president and convicted felon in his speech, calling Trump a “weak man, pretending to be strong.”

“Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party. His fundamental weakness has coursed through my party like an illness,” Kinzinger said.

Kinzinger explained why he, as a Republican, is siding against Trump and his political party.

“Some have questioned some have questioned why I’ve taken the stand I have. The answer is really simple: Ladies and gentlemen, we must put country first, and tonight as a Republican speaking before you, I’m putting our country first,” Kinzinger said. “Because the fact is I do belong here. I know Kamala Harris shares my allegiance to the rule of law, the Constitution, and democracy.”

Kinzinger endorsed President Biden in late June, saying that he knew Biden “will always protect the very thing that makes America the best country in the world: our democracy.” He criticized Trump going back to 2019, when he called out Trump  for seeming to endorse a civil war by retweeting an extremist pastor. The then-congressman also criticized QAnon and other right-wing conspiracy theories, and rejected right-wing claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

After the Capitol insurrection in 2021, Kinzinger called for Trump to be removed from office, and not only endorsed the January 6 committee but served on it as one of two Republicans. In 2022, faced with opposition from Trump supporters in the GOP, he opted against running for reelection.

Members of the wrongly convicted “Central Park Five” spoke during primetime of the final night of the Democratic National Convention. And they had some choice words for Donald Trump.

“Our youth was stolen from us. Every day, as we walked into [the] courtroom people screamed at us, threatened us, because of Donald Trump,” said Korey Wise, one of the men falsely charged as a teenager for the beating and rape of a white woman.

Trump “spent $85,000 on a full page ad in the New York Times calling for our execution,” Wise continued.

The Central Park 5 were a group of Black and brown teenagers, aged 14 to 16, who in 1990 were falsely convicted of raping and assaulting a young white woman jogging in Central Park. The high-profile case gained national attention—and Trump at the time helped fan the flames. 

He did in fact take out $85,000 worth of full-page ads in The New York Times, The Daily News, The New York Post, and Newsday. The ads accused the kids of being guilty, with no evidence, and in all caps, they urged: “BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK OUR POLICE!”

Trump, now a convicted felon, continues to hold that the men are guilty, even though another man confessed to the crime after DNA evidence proved otherwise. Trump has also refused to apologize.

Wise, Yousef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, and Antron McCray were ultimately convicted and spent between 7 to 13 years in prison. Four of them, with the exception of McCray, attended the DNC Thursday.

Salaam, now a member of the New York City Council, echoed Wise’s warnings about Trump. “Forty-five wanted us un-alive, he wanted us dead.”

“That guy says he still stands by the original guilty verdict. He dismisses the scientific evidence rather than admit he was wrong. He has never changed and he never will.”

After collectively serving decades in prison, the five were awarded $41 million from the city.

Speaking on Thursday at the DNC, the men were met with a standing ovation from the crowd.

Senator Elizabeth Warren had a zinger for J.D. Vance during her Thursday night speech at the Democratic National Convention.

“Trust Donald Trump and J.D. Vance to look out for your family?” she asked. “I wouldn’t trust them to move my couch.”

In her speech, Warren painted a picture of Harris as the candidate looking out for working class people while Republicans look out for themselves. “Donald Trump, the felon, has no plans to lower costs for families.”

“When did he ever fill up a gas tank or worry about a grocery bill? The only bills he worries about are from his criminal defense lawyers,” the Massachusetts politician joked.

Warren also highlighted Harris’s background in law protecting everyday people. She “fought the giant banks, and she delivered billions of dollars of help for families,” said Warren. “And that is the difference between a criminal and a prosecutor.”

Donald Trump has taken January 6 denialism to a new level: He’s going to be hosting an awards ceremony dedicated to the Capitol riot.

On September 5, a “J6 Awards Gala” will be held at Trump’s golf club in Bedminister, New Jersey. The event will include a raffle to win a plaque recognizing the “Justice For All” song performed by Trump and the “J6 Prison Choir,” which briefly reached the Billboard Music Chart. The choir is made up of defendants serving prison sentences for their actions in the Capitol in 2021.

Trump is scheduled as a guest speaker, as is his former lawyer and indicted co-defendant Rudy Giuliani. A separate flier for the event notes that tickets range from $2,500 for an individual to $50,000 for a table for 12.

“We gather to pay tribute not only to these individuals but to all J6 defendants who have shown incredible courage and sacrifice,” the event description states.

In a promotional video for the event, Trump calls the rioters “peaceful” and “hostages,” and adds that “there have never been people treated more horrifically than J6 hostages.”

It’s pretty clear that Trump is trying to whitewash an event where he tried to overturn the 2020 election, and maybe make some money in the process. The rioters committed federal crimes and assaulted law enforcement, and yet this event honors them. It’s a warning that without any accountability, Trump will celebrate his crimes, and perhaps be emboldened to repeat them.

Donald Trump made an appearance in Cochise County, Arizona, near the southern U.S. border Thursday, touting a list of violent crimes allegedly committed by undocumented immigrants in an effort to boost his own political campaign.

During Trump’s speech, he read out a list of several gruesome crimes committed against young girls and women across the country, which Trump claimed had been carried out by undocumented immigrants—outright blaming his opponent Kamala Harris for allowing the immigrants into the country. Devoid of any emotion from Trump, the list was presented solely to create shock and outrage.

During his address, Trump invited Patty Morin to speak. Morin is the mother of Rachel Morin, who was sexually assaulted and murdered in Maryland in 2023, allegedly by a migrant from El Salvador. Morin spoke emotionally about the devastating loss of her daughter, which compelled her to speak on behalf of Trump.

“I really want our words to be heard, and I really want you to take to heart what I’m saying. We’re not here for a political stand—although we are,” Morin said. “We’re here because we’re losing our moms, our daughters, our children to criminals. That shouldn’t happen.”

Trump and other MAGA figures have repeatedly highlighted Morin’s story as a tool to criticize the Biden administration’s efforts to expand legal protections for undocumented immigrants. Rachel’s brother was invited to speak at the Republican National Convention last month.

The Republican nominee also invited family members of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old from Houston, Texas, who was allegedly killed by an undocumented immigrant.

In highlighting these stories and their disturbing details, Trump hopes to feed into the anti-immigrant narrative his campaign has created, convincing Americans to support whichever candidate would close the southern border. But his fear-mongering regularly dives into overt racism and baseless claims, such as on Sunday, when Trump shared a post on his Truth Social account showing video footage of a line of people of color walking on a dirt road. The video was captioned, “If you’re a woman you can either vote for Trump or wait until one of these monsters goes after you or your daughter.”

Trump was also accompanied Thursday by Sheriff Mark Dannels, who has been linked to the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, a right-wing group of law enforcement officers that believe the county—not the state or federal governments—-should control all land within its borders, giving sheriffs license to ignore federal law and enforce their own vision of justice.